Iestyn Harris, the Crusaders coach, admitted he was not happy with the attitude of some of his players during the 40-12 drubbing by Huddersfield. Photograph: Gareth Copley/PA Archive/Press Association Ima

1) Crusade in need of fresh direction

It seems a long time since the Crusaders swept aside Salford 42-12 at the Millennium Stadium to launch Iestyn Harris's career as a head coach in perfect style. They have managed only three more wins in 19 Super League fixtures since then and on the evidence of the 40-12 drubbing by Huddersfield on Sunday it is easy to see why.

Indiscipline may have been the most obvious fault, as they were caned in the penalty count by Steve Ganson in one of his less tolerant moods, and had two forwards sent to the sin-bin in the second half. But there were big problems long before that, with Huddersfield scoring two simple tries in the first seven minutes, and only a series of fine cover tackles by the Crusaders full-back Jordan Tansey restricting the Giants to an 18-0 half-time lead.

Harris admitted he was not happy with the attitude of some of his players in that first half. Perhaps that should not be surprising, as there is no obvious reason why the nine antipodeans in the Crusaders' starting 13 should be as committed to a Welsh Super League team as, say, Jamie Peacock is to Leeds, or Sean O'Loughlin to Wigan.

The club's overseas roster is set for a major shake-up next season, with Hep Cahill heading for Widnes, Ryan O'Hara for Salford, and Alex Chan and Lincoln Withers also expected to leave, while the captain, Clinton Schifcofske, is moving into player-management. But the major problem for the Crusaders is exactly what they represent.

They talk a lot about being a Super League club for the whole of Wales, and the expected renewal of their licence can only be justified by that. But they haven't ventured south from Wrexham since that memorable opening performance in Cardiff, and my impression is that neither the wider Welsh public nor media are any longer taking much notice.

By far the most heartening feature of the Crusaders' difficult season has been the Super League experience gained by young Welsh players such as Elliot Kear, Ben Flower, Lloyd White and Gil Dudson, plus the consistently admirable performances of Gareth Thomas, who was excellent again on Sunday even in heavy defeat. But the club need to work much harder on telling the world about their links with the South Wales Scorpions and Valley Cougars, who have each been competitive this season in the Co-operative Championship and Conference respectively.

Evicting the Crusaders from the Super League now would be daft, wasting all the work and investment of the past five years, and alienating the enthusiastic converts in Wrexham who travelled to Yorkshire in respectable numbers even this weekend. But it is about time the club raised their game.

2) Roll up, roll up

As if Harris didn't have enough on his plate with the Crusaders, he is also facing an even more daunting task in his other role as coach of the Wales national team. Their considerable achievement in winning the European Nations Cup last autumn has earned the dubious privilege of facing England, New Zealand and Australia in this year's Four Nations series – which will again be sponsored by Gillette, in a significant coup for the Rugby Football League.

The task will be even tougher as Wales have been given home advantage in only one of their three fixtures, against Australia – and that will be played at Wrexham, offering further evidence of the current neglect of the south, at least at the highest level.

But the bold decision to take international rugby league back to Wembley for the first time since 1997, with a 5 November double-header in which Wales will face New Zealand before England take on Australia, should be welcomed. It will guarantee the competition far greater national awareness, and allows the current generation of stars led by Sam Tomkins and hopefully Sam Burgess to play on the same stage previously graced by Ellery Hanley, Garry Schofield and Jonathan Davies – although for the England coach, Steve McNamara, and his players that undoubtedly raises the stakes.

But that wasn't the only interesting and ambitious international fixture announced last week. France, Ireland and Scotland will also contest a tri-series this autumn, and Ireland have arranged their home game against France for Thomond Park, the Limerick stronghold of the Munster rugby union team. That is a major statement of intent. Let's hope the Ireland Rugby League officials can back it up.

In case anyone thinks we're straying down sexist lines with all this pink, I should probably stress here that it's the colour of Australia's National Breast Cancer Foundation. There's a lot of it about at the moment. Hull will be wearing pink and black hoops for their important home game against Salford on Friday night to raise funds for the Yorkshire Scan Appeal, and St Helens have dyed their famous red vee pink for the visit of the Catalan Dragons on Friday week, in aid of the Burney Breast Unit at the town's hospital.

This is also an appropriate moment to note the achievement of Sarah Bennison, a Leeds Metropolitan University student who is the game's leading female touch-judge, and made history in Cumbria on Sunday when she refereed the second half of Workington's Championship One game against Swinton because Jamie Leahy had a severe nose bleed.

Finally in this distaff section, hats off to the England women's team for their convincing 40-12 victory on Saturday in the first of two Tests against France in Avignon. They prepared for the game by taking on far tougher opposition, a rugby league media select, in the fund-raising Touchathon at Salford's Sixth Form College last Wednesday night. We ended up sharing an honourable 4-4 draw, although they bent the rules as much as we did. I blame Anthony Sullivan, the former Wales and St Helens wing who was recently appointed the women's coach.

4) Beware the Roughyeds

It would be remiss not to congratulate Workington on their victory over a Swinton team who were previously unbeaten in 11 Championship One fixtures, and whose coach, Steve McCormack, has far too much class to blame such a result on a female referee. The Cumbrians, who were founder members of the Super League in 1996, are showing welcome signs of a revival after several horrendous seasons, and are now third in the table.

To complete their perfect Sunday, Whitehaven – the old enemy from down the coast who may or may not be known as Marras or jam-eaters, any clarification gratefully received – were soundly beaten by the mighty Oldham, another team who could make an impact in what promises to be a fascinating play-off series.

To be honest, the Huddersfield-Crusaders game was so uninspiring that I spent most of the second half following the Championship scores live through the Sky Sports website. After York's shock win against Batley on Friday night, and Sheffield's victory against Barrow in another Thursday night thriller, Halifax and Widnes were both behind at half-time before rallying to win at Dewsbury and Hunslet respectively. As ever, any first-hand accounts from those games are welcome below.

This Sunday, Workington go to Rochdale where the Hornets are hoping to attract a record attendance of up to 10,000 through a promotion with the Co-op and several sponsors. That really would be remarkable.

5) Stuart shoots for a double

No disrespect to Hornets, but their game is probably shaded as the highlight of the forthcoming rugby league by the State of Origin decider in Brisbane on Wednesday. It's the most eagerly anticipated clash in years, with New South Wales talking up their chances of a first series win since 2005 – but Queensland are desperate to mark Darren Lockyer's last Origin appearance in fitting style.

I fancy Queensland strongly, on the basis that they'll have major home advantage at the Suncorp Stadium, and could easily have wrapped up the series in the second game in Sydney if the ball had bounced in their favour, despite the efforts of the Blues team heroically led by Paul Gallen. But Ricky Stuart, the NSW coach, does have previous of spoiling Queensland parties, having starred in a 27-12 Blues win in Mal Meninga's last Origin appearance in 1994. Either way, it's a game not to be missed. Here's a reminder of the second game of this year's series, to whet your appetite.

6) What makes a drop goal?

That doesn't leave much room to consider last weekend's Super League action, but feel free to discuss it below anyway. Leeds were terrific at Wigan, and unlucky to lose 26-24, although Ganson's decision as video referee to deny Danny McGuire what would have been a match-winning try was probably correct. O'Loughlin showed again why the Huddersfield coach, Nathan Brown, described him recently as the best British player in Super League, making 44 tackles without a single miss, leading a resilient performance that showed why Wigan must remain the favourites to retain their title – and will surely go top by walloping free-falling Castleford on Wednesday.

The televised match between Bradford and Catalan Dragons on Saturday was a few notches down in quality, but still well worth watching for the ageless skills of Steve Menzies, and the visitors' splendid yellow and red away kit. That was in contrast to the duller spectacle 24 hours later, when Huddersfield's claret and gold may not have clashed directly with the Crusaders' black and yellow, but still made for hard watching for these colour-blind eyes. The RFL should take a leaf out of the NFL's book, and insist on each team having a mostly white change kit.